Preprocessor

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 Objectives

In this chapter you will learn about

What is preprocessor?
Include preprocessor directive
Defining symbolic constants using Macros
Macros with Arguments
Predefined Macros

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 Introduction
§ Preprocessing
– Occurs before a program is compiled
– Inclusion of other files
– Definition of symbolic constants and macros
– Conditional compilation of program code
– Conditional execution of preprocessor directives
§ Format of preprocessor directives
– Lines begin with #
– Only whitespace characters before directives on a
line
– Do not end with ;
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 Comment Removal
int main()
{ Compile the program using
int num1; $cc –E filename.c
int num2;
int res;

// Read two number

printf("Enter two numbers : ");
scanf(" %d %d",&num1,&num2);

// Add two numbers

res = num1 + num2;

// Print the sum

printf(" Sum = %d",res);
return 0; // Successful Completion of
program
}
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 #include Preprocessor Directive

• #include directive
– Copy of a specified file included in place of the directive
– Two Forms
• #include <filename>
– Searches standard directory for file
– Use for standard header files
• #include "filename"
– Searches current directory, then standard directory
– Use for user-defined header files

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 The #include Preprocessor Directive

• Usage
– Loading header files
• #include <stdio.h>
– Programs with multiple source files
– Header file
• Has common declarations
• structures, enumerations, function prototypes
• Extract commonality of multiple program files

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 The #define Preprocessor Directive

• #define : Symbolic Constants

– Used to give a meaningful name to a constant in your program
– Format
– #define identifier replacement-text
– Example:
– #define PI 3.14159
– When program compiled, all occurrences of identifier
replaced with replacement text

– The identifier is replaced only when it forms a token.

– identifier is not replaced if it appears in a comment,
within a string, or as part of a longer identifier.

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 #define PI 3.14f #define PI 3.14f
main() main()
{ {
printf(“ PI “); PIXEL
} }
• Output • Preprocessed Output

PI PIXEL
not
3.14XEL

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 Good Programming Practice

• By convention, symbolic constants

are defined using only uppercase
letters and underscores.
• Using meaningful names for symbolic
constants helps make programs more
self-documenting.

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 The #define Preprocessor Directive
• Advantages
– Takes no memory
– If the constant is used in several places, and if
it is #defined you need to make a change only
in #define directive. Instead of manually
changing each occurrence of the constant
• Disadvantages
– Name not be seen by debugger (only replacement
text)
– Do not have specific data type

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 Macros with arguments
• Macro
– Operation defined in #define
– A macro without arguments is treated like a symbolic constant
– A macro with arguments has its arguments substituted for
replacement text, when the macro is expanded
– Performs a text substitution – no data type checking
– These are also called function-like macros
– The macro
#define SQR( x ) x * x
would cause
res = SQR( 4 );
to become
res = 4 * 4 ;

11
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 #define SQR(x) x*x
int main()
{
printf(“ %d “,SQR(5));
}

#define SQR(x) x*x

int main()
{
printf(“ %d “,SQR(5 + 2));
}
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 The macro
#define SQR( x ) x * x
would cause
SQR(5 + 2)
to become
5 + 2 * 5 + 2
And the result is 17

Use parentheses
#define SQR( x ) ((x) * (x))
would cause
SQR(5 + 2)
to become
((5 + 2) * (5 + 2))
And the result is 49

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 • There should not be a space between macro template and its
arguments
#define SQR (x) ((x) * (x))
would cause
res = SQR(5);
to become
res = (x) ((x) * (x)) (5);

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 Macros with arguments
Write a Macro to accept the radius and calculate the area of
a Circle

15
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 Macros with arguments

• Multiple arguments
#define RECTANGLE_AREA( x, y ) ( ( x ) * ( y ) )
would cause
rectArea = RECTANGLE_AREA( a , b );
to become
rectArea = ( ( a ) * ( b ) );

• Write a Macro to accept two arguments and find the

maximum

16
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 Multiple lines in Macros
• A macro can be extended over as many lines as
required using a \ at the end of each line. The macro
ends after the first line which does not end in a
backslash
• #define MAX3(a,b,c) (a>b)?(a > c ? a : c) :(b > c ? b: c)
can be written as
#define MAX3(a,b,c) (a>b)? \
(a > c ? a : c) : \
(b > c ? b: c)

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 Common Programming Error
• Forgetting to enclose macro arguments in
parentheses in the replacement text can lead
to logic errors.

18
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 Performance Tip
• Macros can sometimes be used to
replace a function call with inline code
prior to execution time. This eliminates
the overhead of a function call.

19
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 #undef Preprocessor Directive

• #undef
– Removes (undefines) a name previously created
with #define
#undef identifier

– To remove a macro definition using #undef, give

only the macro identifier, do not give a parameter
list
– useful when we want to restrict the definition only
to a particular part of the program

20
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 Predefined Macros
• Several simple macros are predefined.
• You can use them without giving definitions for them.
Macro Description
The name of the current source file. __FILE__
__ FILE __ expands to a string
__ LINE __ The line number in the current source file. The line
number is a decimal integer constant..
__ DATE __ The compilation date of the current source file. .

__TIME __ The most recent compilation time of the current

source file.

Some predefined symbolic constants.

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